SINGAPORE: The United States sees Iran’s capacity to move its oil as reliant on service providers based in Malaysia, with oil being transferred near Singapore and throughout the region, the U.S. Treasury Department’s top sanctions official said on Tuesday.
Brian Nelson, Treasury’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, was speaking during a four-day visit to Singapore and Malaysia, which the department said aimed to advance its work in countering financing and revenue generation by Iran and its proxies.
The trip comes as Treasury increases its focus on financing for militant groups routed through Southeast Asia, including through fundraising efforts and illicit sales of Iranian oil.
Nelson told reporters the United States was trying to prevent Malaysia from becoming a jurisdiction where the Palestinian militant group Hamas could both fundraise and then move money.
He said the United States saw Iranian oil being transferred near Singapore and throughout the region.
Last December, Treasury imposed sanctions on four Malaysia-based companies it accused of being fronts supporting Iran’s production of drones.
Nelson also said sanctions and export controls against Russia were seeing progress, saying the Russian oil price cap was reducing Moscow’s capacity to profit from oil sales while preserving the stability of global energy markets.
Singapore is a major shipping hub. Insurance and other maritime service providers operating in Singapore have warned of evasion of the price cap on Russian oil, complaining that it is difficult to confirm that paperwork promising oil is bought at or below the $60 cap is accurate.
Malaysia is flirting with sanctions against its entire US Dollar international trade.
ReplyDeleteSwitching to Renminbi will at most mitigate 20% of Malaysia's international trade.
U know transborder trades between China & m'sia?
DeleteMfer, China is the BIGGEST trading partner with media since 2020 & most of these transactions cam be easily transacted in RMB w/o any hiccups!
Eat yr Yankee poo lah!
Malaysia/China BIGGEST of the BIGGEST transborder trade in 2023 was 18% of Malaysia's total international trade . ..from MITI website..I was being extra charitable to attribute 20% ..wakakklakakaa..
DeleteMuch of the rest of Malaysia's international trade is conducted in USD or Euro.
Few exporters are keen to be paid in Rupees, or Takas or Rupiah or Riyals..due to exchange volatility risks and lack of liquidity. If a Malaysian company agreed to be paid in Riyal, they would still immediately convert it into Offshore Dollars. No business is going to hold Millions of Riyals or Rupees of export income.
And the rate Ringgit is rapidly collapsing , soon more than RM 5 or 6 to USD, or RM 10 to 1 USD if USA imposed sanctions on Malaysia , no Malaysian exporter wants to convert all their earnings to Ringgit if they have significant imports to pay for
In 2023, Malaysia's major trading partners were ASEAN, China, the US, the European Union (EU) and Japan, representing 67.7 per cent share of Malaysia's total trade. China continued to be Malaysia's largest trading partner for 15 consecutive years since 2009, taking up 17.1 per cent share of Malaysia's total trade.
DeleteBTW, not all these trades r transacted in US$. Notably interASEAN payments r using bilateral local currencies modulating mechanisms. Ditto too with China & EU trades.
Perhaps in yr heirloom business u ONLY do transborder payments in US$?
Wow…. How many exporters would immediately repatriate money earned back to home country?
Perhaps ONLY u.
Besides, there r cross currency payment agreements using different forex exchange mechanisms to leverage against exchange rates volatility.
ie China & Saudi Arabia signed a local-currency swap agreement worth around $7 billion to shift more of their non-oil trade away from the dollar. SArabia can use this agreement to pay m'sian companies with offshore RMB, such that these companies can use these RMB to pay for any Chinese purchases - bypassing the US$ seigniorage play!
The current strong play of US$ vis-a-via against all major world currencies is the desperate attempt by the FedReser to clamp down on Yankee economic debacles brewing within the US.
Wakakakaka… no financial/economic/fiscal lessons for u. Keep to yr heirlooms. They wouldn't last long in yr loved US denomination.